Flynn set to head credit union review

The chairman of ICC Bank and former trade unionist Mr Phil Flynn is expected to chair a commission to review the structure and operation of the Irish League of Credit Unions.

Delegates at the league's a.g.m. in Cork at the weekend decided to establish the commission, which is to report to a special general meeting in February 2002 to allow proposals be prepared for next year's a.g.m. in April. League general secretary Mr Tony Smyth said Mr Flynn had tentatively agreed to chair the commission.

A motion of no confidence in members of the league board was decisively rejected on Saturday and further such motions were then withdrawn. The league president, Mr Jim McMahon, was re-elected. The a.g.m. took place over Saturday and Sunday in Cork City Hall. The press were excluded.

In a surprise development on Saturday the meeting voted against acceptance of the report of the supervisory committee, a three-man committee which is charged with supervising the board's activities and reporting to the a.g.m.

One delegate said the rejection of the report centred on the dissatisfaction with the failed ISIS project. It collapsed in January after expenditure of £27 million (€34.28 million). It was seeking to put in place a technology framework for the league.

In his address to the meeting, Mr McMahon, according to a supplied script, said: "The failure of ISIS shows that the structures and procedures which have served this movement well for 40 years seemed to let us down when the pressure was on. "The league board fully accepts that we got the ISIS project wrong. There are no excuses."

The board is to examine the return to credit unions of a significant amount of the ISIS funding which came by way of a per-member subscription. The board has yet to decide if it will take legal action against the consultants engaged for the ISIS project.

Delegates gave different views about the meeting although the majority were positive. "It's no secret that £27 million was misspent," said Mr Liam Sullivan of the Sallynoggin/Glenageary credit union in Dublin. "That's still hanging over everything."

Ms Josephine Lynch, manager of St Lelia's credit union, Limerick, said: "We've put the ISIS crisis behind us. The big credit unions must bring the smaller credit unions along. "This is a co-operative movement. The big and small should go on together."

Mr John O'Regan, vice-president of the league, said the meeting had been very constructive. The new commission should come up with "a shared vision for the movement so we can all work together".